


my delinquent lover

by sabotenworld



Series: broduce high school au [1]
Category: Produce 101 (TV), Wanna One (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Rated for cursing, jihoon is soft for guanlin, woojin and jihoon curse a lot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-21
Updated: 2017-09-23
Packaged: 2019-01-01 06:44:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,747
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12150915
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sabotenworld/pseuds/sabotenworld
Summary: Jihoon likes fighting. Guanlin likes Jihoon.(I changed the description but it's the same story)





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> based on this fanart by my friend twitter user @ppangwinkeu : https://twitter.com/ppangwinkeu/status/908075791497310208 but i haven't even written what's in the fanart rip. the title is also by her bc i can't make titles at all. pls check out her lovely art and i love u twt user @ppangwinkeu

It's only his third week in a Korean high school and his first week with the basketball team, and Guanlin is already injured. He sprains three of his fingers during basketball training, falling and landing badly when he lunged after the ball in an attempt to look cool. Luckily, his glasses didn’t fall off and break. He sulks the whole way to the nurse's office, feeling bad for not being able to finish today’s training (and that he wouldn't be able to attend any trainings until he heals), despite Jonghyun reassuring him with words the way only Jonghyun can.

The team captain drops him off at the clinic, telling him to text him if he needed anything as he still needed to supervise the other team members. Guanlin is left alone with the kind school nurse Jisung, who kept cooing at him like he was a little kid. For some reason it felt like going to a friend's house and being taken care of by a friend's mother. Guanlin found himself relaxing.

His fingers are about to be patched up when the clinic door bursts open. Two schoolboys tumble inside yelling, mostly at each other. Their uniforms are both rather dirty and one of them, the shorter one, even has a tear on one pants leg.

"Jisung hyung!" The taller one calls the school nurse. He's dragging the smaller one with chestnut brown hair, one arm around him. The smaller boy looks up at Jisung, the side of his mouth bruised and his lower lip oozing out fresh blood from the stretch needed in order to grin at him. His left eye is swollen and a dark purple in color. Guanlin can't tell if he was winking at Jisung or just blinking with his good eye.

Jisung screams in horror.

The two boys noticeably flinch at the sound, and Jisung's quickly apologizing to Guanlin for having to do something about this situation as soon as possible, handing him an ice pack to put on his hand for the meantime. "Oh my god, this child," Jisung mutters under his breath repeatedly as the small boy is seated on the hospital bed and he is looking over his injuries.

"I told him he was too damn small to be picking fights with Kang Daniel but he's just really a dumbass," the uninjured boy (or not recently injured, Guanlin could see an almost healed yellow bruise on his right cheek) explains accusingly. He casually pulls a chair to the side of the bed and sits down comfortably, which gives Guanlin the impression that he's in the clinic a lot. The boy had an accent different from what Guanlin is used to hearing from his short stay in Korea.

"Shut up!" the smaller boy yells back at him. Apparently he still had enough energy to be fighting. "I wouldn't have fought them if Ong hadn't made fun of your stupid accent, Woojin!"

"Stop using me as an excuse to pick fights with people so much bigger than you!"

"When will the two of you stop fighting with each other and everyone else around you?" Jisung whines, exasperated. Relieved that the boy had no broken bones, he starts cleaning the wounds on the boy's face, to which he howled in pain as a reaction. "No complaining! You got into this mess yourself, Park Jihoon!"

The boy, who Guanlin now knew as Jihoon, pouts. It's uncharacteristically cute for how he'd been acting this entire time, and Guanlin wonders if it would have been a very cute pout had the boy's face been in better condition.

"And now he's acting cute," Woojin grumbles from his seat. Jihoon tries to kick him, but Jisung slaps his thigh and he winces. "Stop giving Jisung hyung so much work to do!"

"Yeah, I was busy with Guanlin over there." Jisung gestures to Guanlin and the two boys stop their bickering to throw Guanlin a curious look. Once Guanlin looks back at Jihoon, the boy glares at him.

"The fuck are you lookin' at, huh?" he growls at Guanlin as intimidatingly as he could look with his face all beat up. Instead of feeling fear, Guanlin feels amused, and the side of his lips threaten to curve up in a smile. It would be a bad idea, so he tries to keep a straight face. This guy seemed to be easily aggravated. Jisung presses particularly hard on the cotton pad he's holding against the side of Jihoon's mouth, and Jihoon whimpers in pain.

"You looked at him first though," Woojin snickers. He turned to Guanlin with a grin, showing a snaggletooth that made him look friendlier than when he first walked in. "Sorry about him. He just really likes picking fights with people taller than him." Guanlin nods, smiling back.

"You should apologize for pulling me away from taking care of Guanlin too," Jisung scolds Jihoon, whose eyebrows furrow. "Sorry, Guanlin. I'll hurry and finish this and take care of your hand as soon as I can."

"It's okay." Guanlin gets up to try and help Jisung by handing him whatever tools he currently needed, using his good hand while his injured one is limp at his side. It earns him a warm smile and about a dozen genuine thank you's from the school nurse.

"Look at Guanlin helping me out while this other kid with no injuries is just sitting down and picking fights," Jisung says with a sigh. Woojin laughs as if Jisung had told the funniest joke. "Guanlin is a transfer student from Taiwan, a freshman at that, so you two rascals better be nice to him," Jisung says sternly.

"Oh, from Taiwan?" Woojin looks interested. He looks up at Guanlin and the transfer student nods. "So that's why you have an accent. I'm Park Woojin, in second year."

"Stop talking to him, you'll give him a bad impression of Korean people," Jihoon mutters.

" _You_ give him a bad impression! Didn't you just come steal the school nurse and also basically tell him to fuck off?"

"I did _not_ tell him to fuck off! I asked him what he was looking at!"

"That's Park Jihoon," Woojin tells Guanlin, ignoring his friend. "He likes getting beat up and looking like shit."

"Hey, fuck you, I won! That Ong Seungwoo won't be talking shit about anyone for a while," Jihoon brags. "And Daniel… Well, I got a few good punches in, didn't I?" He looks really proud of himself and Guanlin wants to giggle.

"Does he look like he won, Jisung hyung?"

"If I have to do this much work, then this is obviously the losing team," Jisung huffs. He finishes cleaning and covering up the injuries on Jihoon's face and knuckles, and now he's instructing Jihoon to take off his uniform so he can check for other injuries. Jihoon's face reddens as he tells Guanlin and Woojin to get the fuck out before he gives them the same injuries that he has.

"Sorry Jihoon's stupid," Woojin simply tells Guanlin at the bench at the hallway outside. "If I knew some medical shit I'd fix you up myself, but I don't. Tell me if anyone gives you any trouble for being new and foreign, I'll get him."

Guanlin nods, smiling. Even if Woojin was pretty much a delinquent, he seems to be a nice enough person, and Guanlin was always happy to make new friends. He keeps in mind to brag to Seonho that he made a delinquent hyung friend today. "Is he okay though?" he asks after a while. Jihoon’s injuries looked pretty bad.

"Hm? Jihoon?" Woojin's fumbling with his uniform's inner pocket. Guanlin thinks the older might start smoking any time soon, but Woojin comes up with two pieces of candy instead, giving one to him and eating the other. "He's okay, he's used to it. That asshole’s always getting into trouble."

Woojin asks him a lot of getting-to-know-each-other questions, like how old he was and what he liked to do in his free time and why was his hand injured, who did he punch. He looks a little disappointed when Guanlin tells him he was just injured because of basketball, but he gives Guanlin more candy anyway. Guanlin wants to ask him more about Jihoon, but he figured it would make him look nosy when they've just met today.

The door to the clinic opens and Jihoon steps out, looking slightly mummified with all his bandages.

"What'd he say? Are you finally dying?" Woojin asks him excitedly. He stands up to get a closer look at Jihoon's injuries before slinging an arm around him.

Jihoon slaps his stomach rather hard. "Fuck off, what he said was that I need to eat ice cream so my busted lip feels better. You should buy me some," he says, grinning. He turns to Guanlin. "Jisung hyung is calling you in."

"Oh, okay," Guanlin says dumbly. He scrambles to his feet, giving the two boys a small bow before walking towards the clinic.

"Sorry for the trouble and see you around," Woojin calls after him, waving. Guanlin thinks he made a friend today.

-

"Sorry about that," Jisung says for the millionth time today.

"It's fine," Guanlin assures him with a grin. He holds up his hand for Jisung to finally get his hand treated, it's been feeling numb since he used the ice pack but it starts hurting again when Jisung  gets to work.

"But I'm really worried about that kid. He's always here with new injuries, but they've been getting worse lately." Jisung sighs again, looking absentmindedly into space while holding on to Guanlin's injured hand. "He's really a good kid deep inside, that Park Jihoon. He yells and curses a lot but he's always polite to me and he's a great friend to Woojin. He was a child actor when he was little and he was bullied for it, so he developed a complex about wanting to appear tough, and now he picks fights with stronger-looking kids." Jisung realizes he's talked too much, and clamps a hand to his mouth with the hand not holding Guanlin's. "Don't tell him I told you."

Guanlin gets up and thanks him for taking care of him. He goes home curious about Park Jihoon.

-

"You made a delinquent hyung friend?" Seonho looks a little impressed, but he is trying to keep it in because Seonho likes collecting hyungs and he isn't about to be one-upped by Guanlin.

Guanlin grins at him. "His name is Park Woojin and he says I can ask him to beat people up so you better be nice," he taunts playfully.

"Hmph, whatever, I have a delinquent hyung too!"

The Kang Dongho guy that Seonho drags him to meet at the cafeteria at lunch definitely looks like a delinquent: hair shaved at the sides, broad shoulders, and a menacing scowl on his face as he chewed his lunch alone.

"Hyung!" Seonho apparently has a death wish and is hugging Dongho now, arms wrapped around his shoulders and nuzzling at Dongho's stubbly chin. "You must know Guanlin hyung's delinquent friend since you're a delinquent too, right? And you'll beat up people who are mean to me too, right? Right?"

Guanlin shrinks back as Dongho starts rubbing at his temples. Should he escape now? Seonho got into this mess himself and he didn't want to get beaten into a pulp.

"For the last time, Yoo Seonho: I am not a delinquent!"

Dongho ends up being a pretty nice guy. He was just eating alone today because his friends were active in whatever school clubs they joined and had actual activities to attend to. Dongho was just the only loser who couldn’t be bothered to join any clubs.

“Oh, Park Woojin? Isn’t he that little kid who hangs out with the even smaller kid that picks fights?” Dongho asks as he munched on chips from a bag that he shared with Seonho and Guanlin. “His friend tried to challenge me to a fistfight, but I just pushed him and the Woojin kid apologized and brought him away. The other kid was pretty feisty.” Dongho shrugs, like small delinquents trying to fight him was something he had to deal with everyday.

Seonho’s jaw drops, his eyes wide open. “See, hyung, you’re a delinquent! You fought him!”

“I am not. He tried to punch me and I’m not about to be punched by a little kid.” Dongho hides the potato chip bag behind his back when Seonho tries to get more chips, and Seonho whines that he’s hungry. Guanlin laughs at Seonho’s suffering and Dongho turns to him. “What is this about? Did he give you any trouble, Guanlin?” He looks concerned and ready to fight whoever gives the young boy trouble.

Guanlin shakes his head. “I just met them at the clinic when Park Jihoon hyung was injured in a fight. Woojin hyung is really nice, he even gave me candy.”

Seonho successfully charms Dongho into giving him more chips, and Guanlin can immediately tell what he’s thinking when he says: “Introduce me!” A delinquent hyung who gives candy would definitely be a variety of hyung that Seonho would want in his collection.

-

Since he couldn’t play basketball, Guanlin decides he would spend his free time after school studying alone at the library. It’s quiet like all libraries are, but it was a relaxing quiet instead of the oppressive silence that most libraries had. He doesn’t have to talk much while he’s playing basketball, but it’s a little hard for him to make friends at class with his limited Korean vocabulary. Most of the time he couldn’t even keep up with class discussions, and he felt stupid at subjects he normally did well at back when he was in Taiwan. But ultimately it was the loneliness that made him determined to learn more.

He sits at his usual spot at the section furthest away from the library entrance. People rarely stayed there, as it was where the old, unnumbered books were kept. Guanlin likes it there, finding it easier to focus without other people.

“Oh.”

Guanlin looks up from his workbook to see the definition of a flower boy (Guanlin learned the term from watching dramas) standing near the row of desks, holding a stack of thick, hardbound books in his arms.

“You’re that kid from the clinic,” the boy continues as he walked toward the row of desks. He sits at a desk one seat away from Guanlin, setting his books on top of it. “Woojin’s new friend.”

 _Ohh._ Guanlin smiles at him in realization. He didn’t recognize him at first, but from the chestnut brown hair and the upturned eyes (only one of which Guanlin had seen in actual working condition), he knew it was Park Jihoon.  “I’m Lai Guanlin, nice to meet you.”

“Oh. Guanlin.” Jihoon looks at him curiously, and Guanlin can see a yellowish stain on his eye that had been a dark purple a week ago. “You didn’t strike me as the studious type. Weren’t you on a sports team?”

“Yes. Basketball.” Guanlin peeks at the stack of books on Jihoon’s desk. They seemed to be about science from what Guanlin can tell from the covers. He looks back at the boy’s face. He really was handsome; Guanlin couldn’t understand why he would risk getting his face punched.“Hyung doesn’t seem like the studious type either.”

The tips of Jihoon’s ears redden. “Because I’m not?” he says sheepishly, scratching one cheek in a display of embarrassment. “That’s why you shouldn’t hang out with Woojin, his stupidity is contagious! So I’m not hanging out with him right now.”

Guanlin laughs a little too loud for someone inside a library environment at that.

“What about you?”  Jihoon asks, he cranes his neck to look at Guanlin’s desk and Guanlin holds up his workbook to show him.

“Learning Korean.” Guanlin smiles shyly. “I’m still bad at it and it’s hard to make friends, so I’m working hard.”

“Oh.”

Guanlin thinks the older is staring into space to procrastinate studying and he smiles to himself as he goes back to his workbook, trying to find what question he was on. He looks up when he hears chairs being moved, and sees Jihoon move to the seat beside him.

“I’ll teach you,” Jihoon says softly, his eyes earnest and the edges of his lips turning up in a smile. “I’m not good at studying, but I at least know how to read and write.”

“Huh? Didn’t you come here to study though, hyung?” Guanlin asks him. This was a different Jihoon from the screaming, cursing boy from the clinic.

Jihoon shakes his head a little violently and his hair fluffs up at the action. “You’ll learn faster if someone helps you.” Gently pulling the workbook from Guanlin’s hands, he adds: “Then you can make more friends.”

There’s a warm feeling rising in Guanlin’s chest now, and it’s manifesting on his face as the happiest smile he’s smiled in a while. It’s almost hurting his cheeks, and he’s pretty sure all his gums could be seen now, but he couldn’t care less. “You’re kind, Jihoon hyung.”

Guanlin discovers that Park Jihoon’s face reddens easily, and he somehow learns more new words in an afternoon with a delinquent than he’s learned by himself the past few months.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much to everyone who read the first chapter! I really appreciate the kudos and comments ;-;

“Hyung, how come I never see Woojin hyung with you anymore?” Guanlin asks during one study session.

“Woojin?” Jihoon munches on a cookie from the bag they’re secretly eating from. These are both against library rules: talking _and_ eating. It gives Guanlin thrills. “He got a boyfriend, for reasons unknown. I don’t know how he did, with that face. The boyfriend is cute too! Probably blind or dumb or both if he likes someone like Woojin. Like, eww. Disgusting.”

 _A boyfriend._ Guanlin had no idea Woojin was gay, but it’s 2017 and swinging any number of ways wasn’t anything new. “Do you have a boyfriend?” he asks Jihoon next. Jihoon is handsome and it wouldn’t be surprising if he had a boyfriend or a girlfriend, but it still makes Guanlin anxious to hear the answer.

Jihoon splutters at the question, his face flushing into a shade of pink. “No!” he hisses. His eyebrows furrow at Guanlin, who is already pleased with the answer. “Is a guy that fights for fun boyfriend material, Guanlin?” he asks Guanlin softly, as if he’s afraid of hearing what the other boy has to say about that.

“Hyung is very boyfriend material,” Guanlin declares, and Jihoon’s burying his face in his arms in embarrassment. It’s cute, and Guanlin decides he would definitely date this boy if they ended up falling in love with each other.

A day later Jisung decides that Guanlin’s okay to be back to playing basketball. Jihoon just nods and smiles at him when Guanlin tells him the news, saying it would be Guanlin’s chance to make use of what he’s learned.

“I’m going to study harder too,” Jihoon decides. He smiles shyly, as if he’s about to tell Guanlin a secret. “Hey, don’t laugh, but I’m trying to get into medical school. Isn’t Jisung hyung cool? I want to be just like him.”

Guanlin smiles at him. It was unexpected, that this boy who picks fights with everyone had such big dreams for himself in the future. He’s delighted that Jihoon was opening up to him; happy he knew one of the other boy’s secrets.

“It doesn’t suit me, does it?” Jihoon laughs sheepishly. “It suits caring people like Jisung hyung and I’m kind of rowdy, but it won’t hurt to try.”

“You can do it, hyung,” Guanlin says. He believes it; believes that Jihoon can do anything he puts his mind to. Jihoon was special.

And just like that, the study sessions end. The thought of not seeing Jihoon regularly makes Guanlin feel lonelier than ever, even when he makes a more friends at class and club activities.

Jihoon is always the subject of his daydreams when he spaces out at class: Jihoon teaching him whatever’s being taught to the class instead of the teacher or Jihoon being delighted at flowers from Guanlin. Sometimes they even go on dates, and the two of them hold hands.

He doesn’t realize that he’s smiling to himself until Seonho pokes him with a pencil and snaps him out of it.

-

It’s another grueling training session but Guanlin is still having fun, and he’s still enthusiastic when Jonghyun asks him to please get the handtowels from the club room. Jonghyun is a kind leader and Guanlin is glad to be able to help the team out in any way that he can, if it was only to make up for his week-long absence.

“Kku kku ka ka,” he hears a voice say at a distance mockingly as he’s on the way. Guanlin hasn’t heard those words before and has absolutely no idea what they mean, but he’s distracted by a familiar voice replying in English.

“Fuck off, Ong Seungwoo! You fight me?”

_Jihoon._

Guanlin jogs as quietly as he can to where he thinks he heard the voices come from. He quickly hides behind a bush, wanting to laugh at himself at how the hideout was like in a drama, when he sees Jihoon and two other boys he doesn’t recognize.

They’re a good few feet away from where Guanlin is, at the expanse of dirt near the sports club rooms. One of the boys, a tall one with tanned skin, has fallen on his ass. The other guy standing behind Jihoon starts laughing, and Guanlin has never heard a scarier laugh before: it’s a high-pitched, psychotic-sounding laugh that continues even after Jihoon punches his round cheek.

“Kku kku ka ka!” the round-faced guy screams in between his scary laughter. He staggers back from Jihoon’s punch and then does a terribly clumsy attempt at a roundhouse kick in Jihoon’s direction. Jihoon elbows him in the gut and that’s when he falls to the ground, still laughing.

Guanlin is starting to think “kku kku ka ka” is some sort of war cry, but that’s not what’s important right now. What’s important right now is that Jihoon looks extremely cool; with his hair sweaty and tousled and his knuckles a little bloody from beating up guys bigger than him. It takes every bit of Guanlin’s self-control to not stand up and cheer Jihoon on as loudly as he can, because he doesn’t want to distract his hyung from this fight.

The two guys Jihoon beat up were just lying on the ground right now as they all tried to catch their breath. “Hyung, I’m tired,” the laughing guy finally says after a while. He turns his face to his friend, his cheek pressed directly on the dirt floor. “Let’s just get Daniel to beat him up sometime.”

Before the taller guy could reply, Guanlin hears Jonghyun calling for him. He crouches further behind the bush to not be seen.

“Shit, it’s Jonghyun,” Guanlin hears one of the boys say, and he can see both of them scrambling to their feet and running away. They look back and one of them yells at Jihoon: “We’ve captured this moment in our heart, we’ll get you soon!”

“Hyung!” Guanlin stands up and calls when he’s sure the other two boys are out of earshot. His breath catches in his throat when Jihoon turns to look at him. He looks exactly how someone who was just at a fistfight would look: sweaty and a little grimy, but his eyes have that usual sparkle in them and he is just _so_ cool that Guanlin wants to scream.

“Guanlin,” Jihoon says his name fondly when he recognizes the other, grinning. It makes Guanlin so happy and he runs to Jihoon excitedly. “Why are you so sweaty? Are you in the middle of training?” Jihoon produces a handkerchief from his pants pocket, reaching up to dab at Guanlin’s forehead.

“Hyung, you were _the coolest,”_ Guanlin gushes. He continues his rant as Jihoon wipes sweat from his face and neck. “You looked _so_ _cool,_ beating up those guys wow it was like an action movie! I wish I could be that cool, hyung! You’re the coolest!!”

“You shouldn’t fight, you might get hurt,” Jihoon frowns for a few seconds, before breaking out into a smile, eyes as sparkly as ever. “That was fun though! Fighting is so much fun!”

“Guanlin, I thought I told you to fetch the towels.”

Kim Jonghyun is now right behind them, a disapproving look on his face.

“S-sorry, hyung,” Guanlin apologizes, bowing his head down in shame. His original mission was to get the towels for the team, but he got distracted by Jihoon.

Jonghyun is already smiling. “That’s okay, you’re helping him, aren’t you?” he asks kindly, gesturing to Jihoon. “I’ll get the towels myself and you can escort him to the clinic.”

Jihoon insists angrily that he doesn’t really need to go to the clinic, but Guanlin is already ecstatic to be given a new, Jihoon-related task.

“Jihoon hyung, what’s ‘kku kku ka ka’?” Guanlin asks innocently as the two of them sit at the clinic. Jisung very obviously tries to keep in a laugh as he looked Jihoon over, clamping a palm against his own mouth before letting go with a straight face.

Jihoon’s ears redden at that and he clenches his fist. “Nothing.”

“I don’t know that word, I’ve never heard it before.”

Jisung bursts out laughing at that, and Jihoon whines an offended “Hyung! Stop laughing!”

“Sorry, sorry,” Jisung apologizes, still giggling. “Jihoonie was a child actor and ‘kku kku ka ka’ was aegyo that he did in a commercial,” he says quickly, grinning at Guanlin.

Jihoon hides his head under the hospital bed’s pillow, a muffled distraught scream escaping him.

Guanlin spaces out after that, letting Jisung do his work while Jihoon whines about Jisung betraying him. He daydreams about Park Jihoon doing aegyo and smiles to himself. Maybe Jihoon would do aegyo for him one day.

-

The next time he sees Jihoon is a few days later, when Jihoon is in another fight with a much-bigger kid again.

Only this time, Jihoon lost. The opponent is crouching beside him, checking out his condition. Jihoon is lying unconscious on the ground, clutching his stomach with one hand while one arm is lying limp at his side. He has another black eye, like he had the first time he met Guanlin except it’s the other eye this time, and a bruise at his jaw. There’s blood trickling at the side of his mouth, and it hurts; it hurts Guanlin so much. He doesn’t want to see Jihoon like this ever again.

“Hyung,” he chokes out.

The other boy turns to him slowly. He has a young-looking face, but his broad shoulders and piercings make him look manly. “Are you Jihoon’s friend?” he asks too gently for someone who has blood on his knuckles. “Can you take him to the clinic?”

Guanlin nods silently, moving towards Jihoon. The guy who beat him up makes a move to help him carry Jihoon, and Guanlin suddenly feels very angry. He slaps the older boy’s hand away when he tries to touch Jihoon, not caring that he could beat Guanlin up if he wanted to. The boy retracts his hand and watches him collect Jihoon in his arms.

“Might have to bring him to a hospital,” the boy calls behind him when Guanlin walks away carrying Jihoon. “Pretty sure his arm’s broken.”

-

It’s all a blur after they get to the clinic: Guanlin can tell Jisung is panicking internally but outwardly he assesses the situation and calls an ambulance calmly. Not only is Jihoon’s arm broken but his kneecap is also fractured, and there is bruising on his entire body. Woojin was called over as soon as they got to the hospital and he clenches his fist as he looks at Jihoon.

“He is such an idiot,” Woojin says angrily, but Guanlin can tell he’s worried by how tense his jaw is. “He picks fights with everyone and since he’s so fucking _small_ someone’s bound to be stronger than him. See what happened today.” He swallows a lump in his throat before turning to Guanlin. “You know, I’ve been with him since we were little and he just won’t stop. He never stops wanting to prove to everyone that they can’t pick on him anymore. Not like when he was younger and too busy filming to make any friends other than the one kid in his neighborhood.”

Guanlin nods silently. He wants to hug Jihoon, to keep him safe from everyone and himself if Jihoon would let him. He knew Jihoon was cool and protective towards the few friends he had, and all he wanted was for Jihoon to stop getting into trouble and focus on who he had in his life.

Every second makes Guanlin more anxious for the boy’s condition, but luckily, Jihoon doesn’t stay unconscious for as long as the doctors told them.

“Fuck, it hurts,” are the first words out of his mouth. He’s heavily bandaged now, a cast both on an arm and one leg.

“Dumbass, what did I say about picking fights with Kang Daniel,” Woojin says beside him. Guanlin can see his eyes water, but he can’t tell that well. He himself is also close to crying. “Jisung hyung is worried sick, and your mother was crying on the phone an hour ago. You know she can’t afford to come to the city every time your ass gets beat up.”

“I guess I’ll go and die now instead of having to look at your ugly face,” Jihoon says with a weak grin. “Goddamn that Kang Daniel, I just can’t ever win against him, can I?”

“You don’t have to try to beat him, you know,” Woojin says. He looks away now. “Everyone’s worried about you. I’m worried about you.”

“Since when are you this cheesy,” Jihoon groans, but his smile tells Guanlin he’s thankful for Woojin’s presence.

“Hyung,” Guanlin calls softly. He wipes at his eyes. He has to look as strong as Jihoon now, even though the other boy looked smaller and weaker than he’s ever been.

“Oh, is Guanlin here?” Jihoon gives a short laugh, trying to turn his head to look in his direction. “Thanks for visiting. Sorry I’m mummified.”

“You idiot, he’s the one that brought you here. Well, he brought you to Jisung hyung and then an ambulance came.” Woojin eyes both of them before getting up from his chair. “I’ll go get us some drinks and tell Jisung hyung you’re awake. Guanlin’ll take care of you.”

“ ‘Kay.”

Guanlin moves to Woojin’s seat near where Jihoon’s head is rested. There’s an awkward silence before Jihoon clears his throat. “I’m not so cool now, aren’t I?” He smiles at Guanlin.

Guanlin shakes his head vigorously. “Hyung is still cool. Hyung will always be the coolest. I just hope…” His breath catches in his throat and Jihoon patiently waits for him to continue, looking him in the eye. “I don’t want you to get hurt anymore, hyung.”

Jihoon looks slightly taken aback. “I’m okay, I’m used to this,” he insists. His voice fades out when Guanlin links their pinkies together gently, like the younger boy didn’t want to hurt him.

“Promise you won’t get hurt anymore?” Guanlin asks softly. He’s afraid Jihoon is going to reject him, that Jihoon will try to be tough again and push him away.

A soft sigh escapes Jihoon’s lips, but after a while he gives finally Guanlin’s pinky a faint squeeze. “Fine. I promise.”

Guanlin smiles. His mind feels more at ease now, believing that Jihoon was aware that pinky promises are official.

-

It takes a month and a half for Jihoon to be fully functional again, and Guanlin’s happy to see him working hard at studying instead of getting into fights while he heals. Jisung looks less stressed at the situation, and he gets to relax more with less troublesome kids to worry about. Jihoon keeps complaining that he’s bored without anyone to fight, but Guanlin shakes his head as he knows the older still gets into verbal fights with Woojin.

“Delinquent hyung again?” Seonho asks as Guanlin hurries to get all his books in his bag after the teacher announced the class’s dismissal.

“Hey, he isn’t a delinquent anymore,” Guanlin says in mock offense, grinning. He gives Seonho a wave before running off. He’s glad training is cancelled today as the coach is out of town and the upperclassmen have an event they’re busy preparing for.

He spots Jihoon at his usual spot in the library, the one beside the cornermost seat that Guanlin usually sat at when they had their study sessions months ago. He smiles at the memory.

“Hyung!” he calls loudly, more confident in his pronunciation than he had been months ago. He smiles harder even as the other students in the more populous area of the library shush him.

Jihoon looks like he wants to laugh, but he collects his things anyway, slinging on one arm that weird backpack of his with the turntable design.

“You ready for our date?” Guanlin asks cheerfully when he gets to where Jihoon is, voice softer than before to avoid the wrath of the seriously-studying students and librarian.

Jihoon nods, and Guanlin doesn’t have time to react when the older boy tiptoes and cups his face, pressing their lips together firmly. The kiss is not long enough for Guanlin’s brain to register, but the shade of tomato red Jihoon’s face currently is as he’s avoiding Guanlin’s eyes with a small smile on his lips, and the feeling of his own heart about to leap out of his chest, confirms that they _had_ indeed kissed.

Guanlin’s cheeks suddenly hurt from smiling. “Hyung, I like you,” he whispers softly, and he feels happier than ever when he sees Jihoon’s smile widen.

“I’m ready for our date now,” Jihoon whispers back, linking their arms together. He grins cheekily before adding: “If I don’t run into that Kang Daniel on the way to that café, that is. Then I’m ready to fight.”

“Hey, no getting hurt,” Guanlin scolds him.

“No getting hurt,” Jihoon agrees.

They hold hands when they’re outside of the library, and Guanlin feels glad Jihoon’s hand is in his, and not punching someone’s face in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \- Hyeongseob is Woojin's boyfriend  
> \- Jaehwan and Ong and Daniel are the thugs, I'm sorry OngNielHwan  
> \- I have no medical knowledge and have never had any broken bones so I just googled the recovery times lmao i have no idea what im doing  
> \- Thank you for reading this until the end! :D


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